Mean Girls
by Roza-Dimka-Reader
Summary: Reposted. Story based on hit-movie Mean Girls...only VA style. A new girl enters a high school for the first time in her life...and she soon realises how different it really is to what she had been expecting. Bitches, Boys and Barbies...A new girl, a popular jock, a troubled girl and a lost boy...will they find their paths? Hey, no one said high school was easy. I own nothing.
1. Chapter 1

**Here you are – Mean Girls Reposted :D I hope it's better than the last time…Let me know what you guys think! :)**

**MEAN GIRLS**

**Chapter 1**

Rose took a deep breath and forced herself up out of bed. Her bedroom – and apartment - were in a rather bad state, but she never quite cared enough to do anything about it. Manoeuvring through the piles of clothes and rubbish, she made it to her bathroom.

She grabbed her eyeliner and mascara and applied a more than generous amount to her face. She had done the same thing every day for the past couple of years – not even needing a mirror to see what she was doing anymore…it was just as well; she had scribbled all over her only mirror with black marker years ago so that her reflection was something she didn't have to look at.

Today was September first – the first day back at school after the summer break. Rose had loved not having to spend hours after hours in that hellhole of a school called Saint Vladimirs. She was already half-convinced that she would ditch school today when her phone vibrated on her nightstand.

"_Don't even think about it biatch…you're coming to school today whether you like it or not._"

Adrian – her totally gay best friend – knew her well enough at this stage to guess what she had been about to do.

"Ugh…" Rose groaned loudly in her otherwise silent apartment and shoved her phone and keys in her bag. She dressed today like she had done for quite a while – black, black and more black. It helped her blend in and not stand out – _that _was the key to surviving high school.

She should have been excited. She should have been anxious about and looking forward to her senior year at high school. But no, Rose couldn't help but feel anxious about this year for a whole other reason. She had dreaded going back there ever since they had finished up for the summer holidays and now, it had arrived.

Grabbing a doughnut from the kitchenette, she hurried through the living area and slammed the front door behind her, making sure it was locked. A car honked their horn from behind her and she recognised the horn as Adrian's.

"Morning, Rose!" She glanced over to see her neighbour Mikhail Tanner lounging in his garden, drinking a cup of coffee.

"Morning Mikhail!" She shouted over and gave a little wave.

"Rose," Adrian greeted her once she climbed into the passenger seat.

"Adrian."

"Mikhail is looking _fine_ today," he commented, pulling out from the curb.

"Adrian, he's in his pyjamas."

"He's still hot."

Rose ignored him. Adrian had always had a thing for Rose's twenty-something year old neighbour, even though they both knew that Mikhail was as straight as a pole. Rose did know that Adrian only did it because he knew it annoyed Rose.

"Now, remember Rose, what's our goal this year?" Adrian asked her suddenly, forgetting about Mikhail.

"To stay alive," she answered immediately, fastening her seatbelt.

"No," Adrian frowned. "To make friends," he corrected.

"I don't need friends. I have you."

"Sweet and all as that is, yes you do, Rose. I'll be off to college next year and you're gonna be on your own while I'm gone. You need to have someone that you can talk to when I'm away."

"I'm fine on my own!" She insisted. "I've living by myself for a year and a half and never had any problem!"

Adrian didn't answer and they drove in silence the rest of the journey to school, which was buzzing with people.

"You ready for this?" he asked her after parking the car. She ignored the concerned look in his eyes.

"No. But I'll be fine."

"Come on, Rose. It's _senior year!_ This year is supposed to be the best year of our lives!"

"Yeah," she agreed sarcastically. "If you survive it."

"Lighten up," he gave her arm a poke. "It won't be _that _bad…besides, I heard from a little birdy that there's a new girl from out of town – that should take any heat off of you."

"A new girl?" Rose couldn't help but perk up. If what Adrian had heard was true, the student's would be _all over _this new girl…meaning, nobody would bother Rose. And by 'nobody,' she meant Avery Lazar and her bitchy cult.

Rose and Adrian both left his car, both wavering through the flocks of students hugging and greeting each other after the long summer break. They found their lockers no problem – which happened to be right beside each other (there was nothing coincidental about that particular assignment. Rose had snuck into the administrative offices at the end of last year when the assignments were being done up and switched some names around so she and Adrian would be right next to each other).

They headed off to their first class – Ms Karp's. Rose had always liked her; she was always very understanding and gave Rose a hand when she fell behind with her work. Because of this, Rose never gave her any cheek or hassle…she figured it was only fair.

Adrian took his seat behind Rose and was silent until…

"Oh my god, there she is!"

Rose looked up to where he was pointing and saw a blonde-haired tall girl walk in. It was obvious from her body language that she was new – she walked in timidly, her eyes searching the room for an available seat. She spotted one in front of Rose and began making her way over.

"I wouldn't sit there if I were you," Rose told her, taking a quick glance at the angry looking girl sitting near her. "Meredith's boyfriend sits there." As if on cue, Meredith's boyfriend slid into his seat. He wasn't seated ten seconds when Meredith leaned over and started making out with him in front of everyone. Rose, used to it by now, turned to look at the new girl's reaction. She nearly laughed outright at the look of shock and disgust on her face.

The new girl made to sit in the seat beside Rose but Rose held her hand out.

"Flatulent issues," she informed her, pointing at the guy sitting in front. The new girl backed away, feeling even more disgusted and was beginning to wonder why her parents had even thought it was a good idea to send her to such a place. Unfortunately, she wasn't looking where she was going, and walked straight into Ms Karp. Rose couldn't help the snicker that left her mouth as the new began rapidly apologising and clumsily trying to pick up the books and papers that had fallen to the floor.

"Don't worry about it," Ms Karp assured Lissa and helped pick up the books. She completely ignored the snickering class of students sitting around them. "I don't think I've seen your face around here before. Are you new?"

"Yeah. I just moved here. My name's Lissa."

"It's nice to meet you, Lissa," she smiled at her warmly and then turned to the class in front of her. "Guys, this is Lissa. She's new here and I want you all to do your best to make her feel welcome here at Saint Vladimirs."

There was a low grumble from random people around the room and Ms Karp gestured for Lissa to take the seat beside Adrian. He spent the entire class staring sideways at her – and not at all dscreetly.

"Could you have been any more stalker-ish?" Rose joked after class. Adrian just shrugged in response.

"It's not like I was giving her dirty looks or anything. I was admiring her cheekbones – she has amazing bone structure in her face. And I'm so jealous of her eyes! They are like sparkling emeralds!"

"Adrian, if you weren't gay, I would be teasing you about that last comment." Adrian chuckled and linked arms with Rose as they walked down the corridor.

"You wanna ditch?" Rose asked him, pausing outside her next class. _Stan_ was her least favourite teacher, and never ceased to pick on her in front of everyone. Not to mention that he taught her history – the most boring subject in the world. Adrian looked at her disapprovingly.

"_Please!_" She pleaded, giving Adrian her sad eyes. "I just can't deal with Stan right now."

"You promised."

"I promised you that I would _go _to school this morning. And I did. I never said anything about staying the full day."

Adrian just rolled his eyes at her – used to her 'loopholes' by now.

"Fine," he agreed and began walking towards the front door of the school. They hurried down the steps and jumped into his car before anyone could see them.

"Wanna go to the park?" Adrian suggested, already pulling out of the parking lot.

"Sure."

Honestly, Rose didn't want to go to the park. Where she _really_ wanted to go was the little waterfall hidden in the small forest near her apartment. It was hidden from view and nobody seemed to know about it. She had found it when she was nine years old, and had visited the place almost every day since to get some peace and quiet. Nobody – not even Adrian, her best friend – knew about it. It was _her _sanctuary.

But in the present time, she settled for the park where she and Adrian spent the rest of the school day laughing and messing about.

When Rose went home that evening, she couldn't help but think about the new girl she had seen today. The poor thing was like a piece of fresh meat that was being thrown into a pit of lions. Rose shuddered at the thought of when _she _had been the meat – except in her case, she had been a raw, bloody piece of meat being thrown into a cage of very _hungry _lions. She groaned when she entered her room that was covered in clothes and empty takeout containers. Quickly, she grabbed a plastic bag and shoved as much as she could into it before leaving it outside to be thrown out. She didn't even bother going near the rest of her small apartment and just climbed into bed, happy the first day was over.

Rose woke up exhausted the next morning. She hadn't slept much during the night because she had been thinking about that new girl – _Lisa_, she thought it was. Somewhere in the middle of the night, Rose had come to the conclusion that she would talk to the new girl – after all, she knew only too well how hard high school could be. And so, Rose figured having a friendly face would be nice for this Lisa girl.

She dressed and washed quickly, and was actually ready when Adrian pulled up outside her.

"You're early," he commented, making their way to school. "What's the occasion?"

"No occasion. I just thought it would be nice if we introduced ourselves to the new girl."

Adrian nearly drove off the road. "What?" he exclaimed. "We can't do that! She's _way_ too hot to talk to us!"

"Hey!" Rose looked at him in mock-offense.

"Well, I'm not sure about you actually," he went on, giving her a side glance. "I seem to vaguely recall you being a total hottie a couple of years back…but I can't remember what you look like underneath all of that makeup and baggy clothes.

"Fuck off, Adrian," Rose replied, feeling uncomfortable. She didn't like when people made comment about her looks – even Adrian. It was true, though, she _had _been gorgeous. She was popular, pretty and perky. All the guys wanted her, and all of the girls wanted to be her…but then _it_ happened, and everything went to hell.

Rose struggled to repress a shudder.

Adrian made no more comments, knowing Rose well enough to know that she wanted to be left alone. They sat into their seats in Ms Karp's classroom, waiting for the new girl to arrive.

Rose looked at the Lisa girl as she sat down in the same seat as yesterday. It was a few moments before she realised that Adrian was also staring at her.

"Adrian," she scolded and slapped his arm. He looked at Rose.

"I'm sorry but her hair is gorgeous!" he reached forward and grabbed a couple of strands from this Lisa's head. "This is the colour I want, Rose!"

Rose rolled her eyes and let out a laugh at the new girl's surprised and flattered expression. "This is Adrian," Rose told her. "He's almost too gay to function. And I'm Rose. You're Lisa, right?"

"It's Lissa, actually," she corrected politely and gave her a soft smile. "It's nice to meet you." Rose smiled back at her and turned back to face the front as class started, happy that she had pushed herself to actually communicate with someone that wasn't Adrian or Ms Karp.

* * *

Lissa's first day of school was a blur. A stressful, surreal blur.

When the bell rang, she went to her locker and grabbed her brown paper bag containing her lunch. She arrived in the cafeteria and bought a small carton of milk with the dollar her father had given her that very morning. She searched the room for an empty seat.

Every table she arrived at either put a bag on the only spare seat and gave her a demeaning look, or even went as far as to physically turn their backs on her.

So, Lissa ended up eating lunch alone in a cubicle in the girl's bathroom.

She tried to get through the rest of the day without attention being drawn on her at all. When the bell signalling the end of the day sounded, she rushed out and ran towards her house a couple of blocks over. When she arrived home, she rushed straight upstairs to her bedroom and slammed her door shut, ignoring her parent's calls and questions.

_Why did they have to leave Africa? _ Why couldn't they have just stayed and let he be home-schooled? Lissa wanted to cry so badly, but kept it in, wanting to be strong. Her parents had always taught her that the reason you fell, was so that you could pick yourself up again.

And so she returned to school the next day, a smile plastered on her face and her head held high.

Just as she hoped, that day started out better. She had only just sat in her seat when a cute guy with tousled brown hair reach over and admired her hair. It became obvious after only a couple of seconds that this guy was gay.

"This is Adrian." The girl sitting in front of this 'Adrian' swung around in her seat and introduced him. "He's almost too gay to function. And I'm Rose. You're Lisa, right?"

"It's Lissa, actually," Lissa corrected her, sending a smile her way. She was a pretty girl, with dark brown, almost black hair. She was wearing nothing but black and baggy clothes. Lissa thought she would probably be absolutely gorgeous if she didn't wear so much black eyeliner and makeup.

Rose sent a small smile back at her and then turned to face the front of the class. Lissa couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit relieved.

Maybe Saint Vladimir's wouldn't be so bad after all?


	2. Chapter 2

**AN - There are just some lines that I absolutely **_**have **_**to keep in because they're brilliant! :D and also, this chapter is shorter than normal but it felt like the right place to end it :P**

Lissa was wandering out of her first class, searching around for directions to her next class when Rose and Adrian suddenly walked up on either side of her and linked an arm through each of hers.

"Hey," Rose grinned at her as she and Adrian became steering Lissa through the throng of rowdy students.

"Move out of the way!" Adrian yelled over everyone's heads. Rose felt like hitting him for trying to draw attention to them. She hadn't liked being in the limelight for quite a while now; she found it was easier to get by when you blended into your surroundings. "Fresh meat coming through!" Adrian went on, earning himself an unseen glare from Rose.

"So, are you lost, Ms Dragomir?" Adrian sent her one of his signature smirks. She chuckled.

"I'm just looking for my health class. Do you guys know where room G14 is?"

Rose and Adrian exchanged quick sly glances.

"Yeah," Rose told her. "That's in the back building. We'll bring you there."

"Thanks!" Lissa grinned at her helpfulness. She felt a little relieved – maybe yesterday had just given her a wrong first impression of school-life. Maybe there were some genuinely nice, helpful people here who just wanted to make her feel welcome.

"Eh…" Lissa stumbled over her words when Rose and Adrian abruptly stopped and sat down in the long grass outside of the school. It was near enough to see the school, it's grounds and everything going on within, but not near enough to be spotted. "Where's room G14?"

"The other side of the school," Rose answered, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly and picking pieces of grass.

"You…You guys are ditching?" Lissa questioned uncomfortably. She glanced over her shoulder nervously. She _hated _getting in trouble; most likely because she never did – not even at home.

"Why not," Rose told her, shredding the grass into tiny, miniscule pieces. "Health class is so pointless anyway. Now sit before someone sees you!" With that, Rose yanked Lissa's arm, making her land on the soft grass.

"So, Lissa," Adrian leaned towards her, an excited sparkle in his eyes. "I _love _the colour of your nail polish! Where did you get it?"

Lissa felt herself blush at the compliment. "I got it in a little store when I first moved here last month. It was called MAKE or something like that…"

Rose nearly burst out laughing at Adrian's appalled face.

"You mean MAC?" he guessed, still looking aghast. Lissa looked a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"How do you not know what MAC is?" Rose asked her, picking at her own chipped black nail polish. "Even _I _know that."

"Well, there's not exactly a MAC store on every corner in Africa now, is there?" Lissa defended herself.

"You moved here from _Africa_?" Adrian looked shocked. "I've never met any African people before…"

"Well, you still haven't," Lissa reminded him, smiling a little. "I'm not actually African. My parents are research zoologists and moved us over there when I was four. I was excited when they told me we were moving back here again – I loved it over there, but I felt so isolated…"

Rose tuned out Lissa and Adrian's conversation as the outside gym doors opened and a class jogged out.

_Was it that time already?_ Rose felt her stomach do a little flip and carefully peaked over the tall grass to see the students getting warmed up for gym.

It may have been a little stalker-ish, but every week at this exact time, she would hide out in the grass to watch this particular group, whether Adrian was with her or not.

Reluctantly, she felt herself melt into a little puddle as she spotted the person she had been looking for.

Dimitri Belikov wandered out of the gym and walked over to a small wooden bench to leave down his drink. He stretched his arms upwards to release the tension in his fairly-built muscles.

He looked as gorgeous as ever.

She cringed as Avery Lazar – aka 'Queen Bitch' of the school – shot him a dirty look and whispered something – undoubtedly bad – about him to the group of guys surrounding her. They, in turn, looked at Dimitri and started laughing between themselves. Rose wanted to stalk up to each of them and punch them for actually believing _anything _that skank said about him…and then she would punch Avery for being such a bitch and ruining everybody's lives…

"Rose!"

Rose spun around the face Adrian and Lissa who were both looking at her. By the looks on their faces, that had not been the first time they had called her name.

"Are you ok?" Lissa looked at Rose worriedly.

"She's fine," Adrian smirked knowingly at her. "She's just stalking lover-boy again."

"Shut it, Ivashkov!" Rose threw a pile of ripped up grass at him.

"Alright, alright…" Adrian brushed his designer t-shirt off. "Lissa asked you if we would be at lunch later?"

"Yeah, sure," Rose agreed, trying to stop herself from glancing back over at Dimitri – who was probably changing his shirt right about now – and focused on Lissa. "I guess we could hang around. You can sit with us if you like."

Adrian and Lissa went on talking and Rose looked back over at the field. She had been right – Dimitri had changed his shirt.

Rose kicked herself for missing it. When it came to bodies, Dimitri had a far-from embarrassing one. In fact, it was the exact opposite. He was tall, lean and packed with muscle – but not enough to make him look bulky. He would have been a footballer, or a wrestler in another life, but Avery had made that impossible. He would get positively _crushed_ if he even went to try-outs, nevermind actually getting on a team.

"Come on, Rose, the bell's about to go. We'd better hurry if we want fries," Rose jumped to her feet and ran towards the canteen, Lissa and Adrian hurrying to keep up with her. They were sweaty and out of breath when they arrived, but Adrian still managed a laugh when he saw that Rose had made it to the front of the queue. _Nothing _kept that girl away from her food.

Adrian and Lissa both paid for their food and joined Rose at a table near the back as people began to fill up the previously empty seats in the cafeteria.

"I was wondering," Adrian began, looking at Lissa. "Why did you decide to come to high school, like, why _now?_"

"My parents wanted me to get 'socialised,' Lissa mocked the word. Adrian gave her a look.

"Oh you'll get socialised all right," he chuckled, sharing a look with Rose.

"What does that mean?" Lissa asked him, confused.

"You're a total hottie," Rose explained, shoving three fries into her mouth at once. She looked up from where she was drawing something on a blank piece of paper. "Oh, great," she groaned. "Look what the cats dragged in…there's a reason we don't have lunch here, Adrian."

Lissa and Adrian turned to see what Rose was grumbling at, and Adrian saw that the Plastics had stalked in the door, heads held high.

"Just ignore them," he told her. "They're too self-involved to even bother with you today." Rose just mumbled in annoyance and kept her head down to avoid detection.

"Who are they?" Lissa asked Adrian, curious of Rose's reaction. She couldn't help but feel intrigued when she saw that people were actually moving out of the way so that these three seemingly average, although very beautiful, girls could get through. The three girls ignored everyone and sat in the empty table right in the centre of the canteen.

"They're the Plastics," Adrian told her. "Teen Royalty. See the blonde girl? That's Camille Conta."

"She's one of the _dumbest _people you will ever meet," Rose piped up quietly, glancing over in the same direction. "Adrian sat next to her in English last year."

Adrian nodded, agreeing with the statement. "Hardest year of my life."

"The brown, curly-haired one is Mia Rinaldi," Rose told her. "She's totally rich because her _daddy_ invented toaster strudel." Rose scoffed. "And she's the biggest gossiper in this place – she knows _everything _about _everyone._"

"That's why her hair is so big," Adrian whispered in Lissa's ear. "It's so full of secrets!"

Lissa giggled and turned to look at the final girl. Rose was glaring at her with all of the hatred in the world.

"And evil takes a human form in Avery Lazar," she went on, still shooting daggers at the skinny, blonde-haired girl. "Don't be fooled," Rose warned. "She may seem like your typical selfish, backstabbing, slut-faced hoe bag, but in reality…she is _so _much more than that."

Lissa was surprised – she had never seen so much anger and hostility in someone's face and eyes before…and _that _was saying something! She had grown up with wild animals after all.

"Here," Rose finished whatever she had previously been drawing and handed it to Lissa. "This map is going to be your guide. Now, where you sit in the cafeteria is _crucial _because this is where _everybody_ is _every_ day. You've got you're jocks, your nerds, your Asians…" Rose went through a long list and pointed out each table to Lissa as she went along.

"But Lissa," Rose tugged at Lissa's arm to get her attention once again. "The most important thing to remember…_Beware_ of the Plastics."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN - Nobody really reviewed, but maybe that was because it was so short. Hope this one's better! It's longer, anyway! :P Enjoy :)**

* * *

"I don't understand," Lissa looked at both Adrian and Rose who were still glowering at Avery and her gang of followers. "What makes them so awful?"

"It's not '_them'_ so much," Rose told her. "They're just her flock of sheep. _She's _the dictator."

Lissa didn't say any more on the subject, quite frankly because the angry glare in Rose's eyes scared her. She obviously had a lot of history with this Avery girl, and Lissa didn't really want to get involved in the drama of it all. She was the kind of person who didn't like conflict; she'd much rather everybody around her get along in harmony.

"Adrian, would you get me a cookie?" Rose asked him, pushing away her empty plate of chips.

"Get it yourself," he retorted, fixing his messily-gelled hair in a little compact mirror.

"Please! I don't want to have to walk by Avery!"

"I'll get it for you," Lissa offered, eager to please her new friends – if that's what they were yet. Lissa wasn't quite sure how the social-ways of high school went. Like almost everything else in America, it was completely new to her.

Rose looked surprised by Lissa's friendliness, but accepted her offer all the same.

Lissa happily walked up to the cafeteria counter and bought one chocolate chip cookie. On her way back down, Rose gave her a big thumbs up and grinned. Lissa was about to smile and wave back when someone side-stepped in front of her…right in front of Avery's table.

So much for staying out of the radar.

"Hey," the guy said, blocking her view of Rose and Adrian so that she couldn't even look at them for help. "I'm Ralf. I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions? We're doing a lunchtime survey of new students." Lissa realised when he said 'we,' that he had stood up from a nearby table – where a bunch of guys were now listening in intently.

"Eh, sure," she replied, trying to ignore the looks they were giving her and focus on Jesse. He was a little shorter than her with thick, black hair. He was definitely cute, that was for sure, but not her type.

"Is your muffin buttered?" He looked at her expectantly, his expression straight as the group of guys beside him burst out laughing. Lissa looked down in confusion at the cookie she was holding.

"I don't…" She trailed off, more confused than ever when he didn't explain.

"Would you like me to assign someone to butter your muffin?"

"My…What?"

"Is he bothering you?" Lissa froze as a sugary-sweet voice spoke. She knew before she had even turned her head that it was Avery Lazar who had interrupted. "Ralf, why are you such an asshole?"

"I'm just doing a survey!" he defended, looking mad.

"Listen to me, Sarcozy," she said, standing up to her fullest height so that Ralf actually shrank away a little. "You do _not_ come to a party at my house with Mia, and then just hit on some poor, innocent new girl right in front of her." The girl Rose and Adrian had introduced as Mia earlier was desperately trying to fix her already-perfect curls. She looked embarrassed at being caught in the position of the 'poor girl who the hot guy didn't call after he had his way with her.'

"Do you want to have sex with him?" Lissa was taken aback by the question, not just because it was abrupt, but because she had been focused on Mia. Avery and Ralf, as well as Camille and Mia were all looking at her expectantly.

"No, thank you," she replied, trying to suppress the blush that was making its way to her cheeks.

"You see?" Avery sent Ralf a winner's smile. "Now walk away."

"Bitch…" Ralf murmured under his breath and walked back to his table where his friends were waiting. Lissa made to keep walked when Avery stuck her hand out.

"Hey," she smiled at Lissa, who sent a quick glance over at Rose and Adrian, who were both sitting with their mouths wide open at Avery's open gesture of affection. "I'm Avery. You're that new girl, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Lissa. It's nice to meet you." She may have heard a lot of things about Avery, but that didn't mean her good manners had to be disregarded. Lissa was nice to everybody; it was just how she had been brought up.

"You too. Come sit." As both Avery and Lissa took their sits, Lissa studied the smile that seemed genuine. She really didn't seem like the horrible bitch Rose had described.

"I heard you moved here from Africa." Lissa looked over at Camille, who was looking at her blankly.

"Yeah, I did," Lissa confirmed tentatively.

"But…" Camille looked really confused. "If you're from Africa…how come you're white?"

Mia dug her elbow into Camille's ribs. "Oh my god, Camille! You can't just ask people why they're white!"

"Ignore them," Avery went on, shaking her hair back off of her face and leaning forward so that she had Lissa's full attention. "You know, you're like _really _pretty."

Lissa felt herself blush for real this time. "Thanks," she said nervously, sneaking a small glance at Rose and Adrian. They were both looking at her with a mixture of curiosity and shock.

"So you agree with me? You think you're really pretty?" Avery leaned forward, looking seriously interested in Lissa's reply.

"Eh…" Lissa stuttered, unsure of how to answer. She didn't know if she was pretty…it wasn't something she had really thought about very often.

…but that was the second time she had heard she was good-looking in under twenty-four hours. And Lissa already knew that she wasn't completely unfortunate-looking.

Fortunately, Avery kept talking, letting Lissa take a relieved breath and relax into her seat a little.

"Oh my god," she gushed, leaning forward to play with the pendant on Lissa's necklace. "I _love _your necklace! Where did you get it?"

"My mom made it for me," Lissa smiled at the memory. Her mother had been a very crafty person for as long as Lissa could remember, and in the days leading up to her thirteenth birthday, Rhea Dragomir had been locking herself away in her room, mysteriously telling Lissa that she was 'working on her birthday present.' Sure enough, on the morning of her birthday, her mother had produced this gorgeous, hand-weaved necklace with a beautiful multi-coloured pendant hanging from the chain. Lissa had worn it every day since.

"It's totally cute," Avery complimented.

"Yeah, it's so fetch!" Mia chimed in, her perfect curls bouncing around her pretty face. Avery turned to give Mia a dirty look.

"What the _hell _is 'fetch?'" She demanded, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, it's like slang…from England…" Mia trailed off at Avery's almost-disgusted look. She looked down at her salad and started picking through the tomatoes and lettuce, looking for something seemingly invisible.

Avery turned back to face Lissa and rolled her eyes once again. She smiled at her.

"Lissa, I want you to have lunch with us every day for the rest of the week," Avery grinned at her, looking at Lissa as though she had won a grand prize.

"Oh, em," Lissa's eyes shot over to Rose and Adrian, who were _still_ watching their interactions. "That's-"

"Awesome." Avery finished, her smile showing off her pearly white teeth. "You should know, that we don't allow just _anybody_ to sit with us. This is kind of a big deal. On Wednesdays, we wear pink. See you tomorrow, ok?" Before Lissa could get a chance to give Avery a proper answer, she stood up and left, her cronies by her side.

Lissa was left by herself at the table, watching Avery leave. Why had she worried so much about making friends upon arriving in high school – she was only there one day and already, people were interested in being close with her.

Shaking her head, she picked up her plate and walked back over to where Rose and Adrian were, a smile on her face.

"Finally," Rose took the plate from Lissa and immediately started devouring the cookie. "I've been dying for that cookie."

"What happened?" Adrian gripped Lissa's arm and gestured to where she had previously been sitting.

"Oh, nothing really," Lissa replied, although it felt like it meant a lot. "Avery just asked me to sit with her at lunch for the rest of the week."

Rose spit out her drink…literally.

"Gross, Rose!" Adrian complained, making sure known of her drink had been sprayed on his expensive clothes.

"I'm sorry…what?" she exclaimed once she had finished coughing. People had begun to look over at her and she desperately tried to get her coughing under control.

"Yeah," Lissa looked at her, wondering what the big deal was. "She said I was pretty and that I could sit with them if I wanted."

Rose exchanged a shocked look with Adrian. "Oh my god, you _have _to do it!" She told her, lowering her voice so much that Lissa had to lean in close to hear her. "I mean, seriously! You have to do it, and then tell us all of the horrible things she says!"

"I don't know…" Lissa trailed off, looking and feeling uncomfortable. "Avery doesn't seem so bad…" Lissa thought about the compliments she had given her. "In fact, she seems _sweet."_

Judging by the look on Rose's face, Lissa would have guessed that if she had been drinking water again, she would have done another spit take. She looked absolutely aghast.

"Avery Lazar…is _not_ sweet," She said slowly, teeth gritted. "She's a life-ruining, soul-sucking whore!"

Lissa blanched and had to refrain herself from telling Rose off for cursing. She had a feeling it would not help matters right now, despite her mother's teachings.

"You guys should sit with us too," Lissa suggested. "Then you'd get to know her better, and maybe even change how you feel about her."

"That suggestion almost made me vomit in my mouth a little," Rose told her while giving her a fake smile. "Are you crazy? There's no way _we'd_ get invited to sit with the 'perfect little Plastics.'"

"Why do you hate her so much?" Lissa asked her curiously.

"Hmm?"

"Avery. Why do you hate her?" Adrian piped up.

"Oh, cos Avery started these rumours that-"

"Adrian!" Rose gave Adrian her scariest glare, making him shut up. "Can we _please_ not talk about that now!" Adrian shot her an apologetic look and started picking at his nails. "Look, this isn't about hating her. I just think it would be like a fun little experiment if you were to hang out with them and tell us everything that they say."

"I don't even know what kind of things they talk about…" Lissa said, her mind on the fence. One way, she wanted to be friends with Rose…but she also wanted to see what it would be like to be friends with Avery Lazar, the most popular girl in school – and someone who wanted to hang out with her too.

"Hair products," Adrian suggested. "Zac Efron?"

"Is that a band?" Adrian looked astounded.

"Would you just do it!" Rose exclaimed before Adrian could launch into his speech about how Zac Efron was the 'hottest guy on the planet, excluding Ryan Gosling.'

Lissa took a big breath before replying.

"Okay, fine. I'll do it," she agreed. "Do either of you have anything pink?"

"Ew, no," Rose replied, looking disgusted.

"Yes!" Adrian told her at the same time, his face lighting up at the idea of being able to share his very fashionable clothes with someone.

Lissa liked Rose and Adrian, she really did…but she was quite glad to reach her final class of the day, which was Advanced Calculus. Nobody familiar was in that class with her, and so it was the perfect opportunity for her to take a breather.

Calculus was good. She _liked _calculus. She was _good_ at calculus. _Nothing_ in math could mess her up.

"Hey, do you have a spare pencil I could borrow?"

Lissa froze as a totally cute guy who was sitting right in front of her turned around. She felt herself swoon at his adorably handsome facial features and soft-looking black hair. She handed him her pencil without thinking about it. She had to endure the rest of the class without anything to write with and kicked herself for being an idiot until she got outside the door.

Well, maybe there was one thing that could muddle up calculus.

And that particular distraction came in the form of Christian Ozera.

* * *

***I also want to quickly congratulate Richelle Mead on her second pregnancy xD We got a new VA lover on the way, me thinks! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Kitty (guest) - she announced that she was pregnant on twitter about a week ago :)**

* * *

"This is gonna be great!" Rose grinned evilly, rolling down her window and enjoying the gentle September air.

"Yes, Rose, it is. Now _please_ slow down," Adrian begged, gripping on tightly to any solid surface he could in the car.

"I mean, I've _always _wanted to know what she's says about other people when she thinks nobody's listening…Or what she says about _me_!"

"Rose, I swear to _god_…if you crash my car and we don't die, my parents will kills us both." He winced as Rose sped around a particularly sharp corner.

"Oh relax! Let me enjoy this - you never let me drive!"

"Oh really? I wonder why?" Adrian retorted sarcastically, squeezing his eyes shut as a car honked at Rose's hazardous driving.

Rose rolled her eyes at him, but slowed down a little to calm him.

"There. You happy now?" she asked him.

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die," he murmured repeatedly under his breath, eyes still closed, making Rose chuckle.

When they finally arrived at Adrian's house, Rose climbed out of the car and let herself in before Adrian had even reopened his eyes. Luckily, his parents were still at work. They had never really liked Rose all that much…although they didn't really know her. They didn't like the gothic look, the dark clothes or the bright red highlights she had given her hair. They also thought she was a bad influence…

_Which was probably true,_ she thought, watching Adrian walk inside pretending to be dizzy and holding onto the wall.

"Get over it, you idiot," she joked and started rooting through his fridge and cupboards. He plonked himself down on the couch in the adjoining living room.

"Bingo." Rose found and grabbed a can of beer from Adrian's fridge and plopped herself down beside him.

"Seriously?" Adrian looked disapprovingly from the can to her face. "You're drinking?"

"Oh I'm so sorry!" She apologised, smiling sweetly at him. "Did you want one?" He proceeded to grab a cushion and throw it at her, nearly making her spill her drink all over her lap and the couch.

"Adrian!" She exclaimed, firing the pillow back. "It's just one can, alright?"

"Fine…" he grumbled and switched on the television. Rose smiled and curled up into him. Sometimes it was easy for her to forget that Adrian too had gone through a rough stage in school. It had always been very clear to him that he was gay, and he only received a few discriminating comments every once in a while…but when he official came out to the world, it was a whole other story.

He had turned to drinking as a form of escaping the horrid comments and actions of others – adults and teenagers alike. It wasn't until he had met Rose and saw that she too was having an equally rough time that things finally started looking up.

Adrian had been sober for about 18 months now, and he had never been better. He still received hurtful remarks and such, but was at the stage where he could ignore them…because this was who he was – who he was born to be – and if anyone had a problem with that, there was nothing he could do about it. Or anything he _wanted _to do about it.

Rose, on the other hand, wasn't quite able to let the callous comments she received go just yet. She'd put on a brave face and keep walking as though the person hadn't spoken, but later when she was by herself or with Adrian, she let the full impact of the pain consume her.

They were halfway through an episode rerun of _Gossip Girl_ when Rose realised Adrian was watching her.

"What?" she asked him, looking down to see if she had spilt alcohol on his parent's couch after all.

"You seem…weird," he muttered, studying her curiously.

"I'm always weird, Ivashkov," she retorted, turning her attention back to the screen.

"No, you seem…kind of happy. But not that _happy_ kind of happy, more like the slightly sadistic type of happy…"

"Adrian, that makes _no _sense."

"I haven't seen you like this in a long time," he went on, eyes narrowing. "Rose, you need to be careful. I'm not sure what exactly you're planning with this whole Avery-Lissa thing, but promise me you won't cross the line."

"Of course I won't cross the line," Rose retorted, a little anger in her voice. "Adrian, I will never be _that _girl again. I swear."

Adrian studied her carefully for another moment, before deciding to believe her. He relaxed back into the couch and after another minute, so did Rose.

The enjoyed a couple of hours messing around like best friends do, until Adrian's living room was illuminated by the arrival of a car's headlights out front.

"_That's _my queue to go," Rose joked, jumping up and grabbing her stuff. She made for the back door.

"Wait! Here-" She turned just on time to catch the empty beer can Adrian had thrown at her. "Bring it with you. I don't want my parents to think I'm drinking again."

Rose sent him a small smile and then hurriedly left when she heard the key in the lock of the front door.

She slowed down as soon as she was at a safe distance away. A few fences and several dark backyards later, she made it to a sidewalk, where she walked the remainder of the way home.

The fall air was chilly, foreshadowing what was surely to come that winter. September was definitely too early for a snowfall, but one was coming, Rose could feel it. There was something different this year…something more menacing and cold. Rose revelled in the feeling of her nerves going haywire. This was it.

This was the year she would finally get revenge.

The sound of footsteps made her head snap up in alert. They were heavy – a man's, she realised.

Glancing around her, she stopped walking when she realised it was too dark to see further than five metres in front of her.

They were getting louder…almost beside her…

They were fast too, as though this man was running. She backed up a couple of steps.

Suddenly, the person came into her sight, and she immediately relaxed, only to have her nerves go wild and her heartbeat feel erratic.

Dimitri Belikov jogged by, looking surprised to see her out too. He was sweaty, as was his shirt, and his muscles looked like they'd been worked; meaning he'd been running for a little while. For a moment Dimitri looked as though he was going to stop and talked to her, and Rose was sure her heart actually stopped…

But then he obviously thought better of it and kept running, sending her a little wave and a small smile as he passed.

Rose stood frozen in that spot for at least a minute after he'd gone from sight. Despite the disappointment she felt at the fact he hadn't stopped to say hello, that small smile and wave he gave her meant more to her than he would probably ever realise.

With a sigh, she dropped her still-raised hand and continued her short journey home, a gentle smile planted on her face.

Once inside, she dropped her bag on the ground and glanced around her apartment.

It suddenly struck her exactly how dirty the place really was. She had walked through it a hundred times, but never really _saw _it.

After taking a deep breath, she pulled off her shoes and threw them to the side.

Walking around the room, she grabbed her laundry – both clean and dirty – and sorted it into piles. She then proceeded to the empty food cartons, and then the shoes.

Several hours and four bin bags later, she sighed and picked up the last pair of shoes. Walking into her bedroom, where her small walk-in closet was, she opened the door. The shoe rack was more than full, and so she forced her way through the clothes to see if there was any space in the back.

While down on her hands and knees in the very back of her closet, she came across a rather large box. She felt the tears rush to her eyes, already knowing what was inside.

Forcibly, she shoved the box to the side and curled up in a ball, shoes still in hand.

Rose let out some tears – well, a lot of tears – but forced back the sobs. She was cleaning, she didn't have time to really cry right now.

She crawled out of the closet after wiping her stiff-feeling face and threw the shoes inside without looking, slamming the closet door shut when she had.

The door crashed shut a lot harder than it should have, and made an odd creaking sound. Anger was seeping it's way through Rose's body and blood, and she struggled to keep it under control. She hurried to make it to another room to distract herself but didn't get very far. She managed to make it as far as the bathroom, but the pure rage became too much for her.

Before realising what she was doing, Rose's fist smashed into the already ruined glass, causing it to fragment into a hundred pieces. Half of the mirror fell to the ground, nipping her shins and bare feet.

The other half stayed on the wall, albeit cracked.

Half of Rose's face was visible in the reflection, and the pain there was evident even to her. Not caring about the sharp glass below her, she collapsed onto her hunkers, the sobs forcing their way out of her mouth and eyes. She screamed in frustration and hit the floor hard, not even feeling the pain that was going through her palms. She only realised she had hurt herself when she saw the red fluid seeping from various cuts in her palms.

She watched the red runny liquid flow down her skin and drip to the floor, forming small puddles near her damaged self. It felt as though there was more pain and less pain at the same time. Less pain because it seemed like by letting the blood out, she was releasing the hurt with it, and more pain because she knew she would regret it later…not to mention the pain from the glass that was lodged into her skin.

And then, all of a sudden, Dimitri's small but clear smile appeared in her mind, making it easier to breath. With a deep breath, she looked up from the pools of blood and carefully stood up.

There was a lot more cuts than just on her hands. When she had fallen, she had landed on tiny pieces of glass, cutting her shins and feet. Because she had been wearing dark tights, it was hard to tell if it was bad. But if the rips in her tights were any indicator, she should probably be seeking medical attention.

And so she carefully stood up and left the destroyed bathroom. In her bedroom, she removed her blood-stained, ruined tights and saw what she already knew: there wasn't a part of either shin that didn't seem to have blood on it. She sighed and grabbed a pair of pyjama bottoms; they were the only clothing she owned that wouldn't irritate her cuts further.

She didn't want to bother Adrian so late at night, so she decided to walk to the emergency room.

Considering it was her legs that were hurt, it was probably not a very good idea…and that became apparent as the adrenaline that had been burning through her disappeared, and the pain trickled in.

"Shit…" She groaned and managed to drag herself to the door, where she almost collapsed with relief.

"Are you ok, ma'am?" A nurse hurried up towards her and helped inside, where she sat her down.

"I hurt my legs," she told her, trying to catch her breath.

"You just sit here, ok? Dr Olendski should be with you in a few moments; she's just with another patient, alright?" I nodded and took another deep breath, happy to be sitting down.

"Rose?"

The voice that called my name was hesitant – cautious, even.

It also made me shiver, but not because it was cold.

But because it belonged to someone who meant so much to me, even if he shouldn't have, even if I didn't really know him all that well.

"Dimitri?"


	5. Chapter 5

Rose turned around, ignoring the now-throbbing pain on her shins and in her palms. Sure enough, there stood Dimitri Belikov, as gorgeous as ever.

Rose shook herself out of her stupor long enough to realise that he had spoken and was looking at her expectantly.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked him, feeling like an idiot.

The tiniest of smiles reached his lips, but was quickly clouded over with concern.

"I asked you if- if you were ok?"

"I'm fine," she answered him, and then realised that he was looking questioningly from her hands to her face.

"Oh, I just, eh, fell," she lied lamely, hoping he wouldn't ask too much. Luckily, her pyjama bottoms covered the major cuts on her legs, so she managed to avoid more concern. She didn't like him looking at her with such worry…like she was vulnerable, or weak. Which, of course, she _was _weak. She wouldn't have had a breakdown if she wasn't.

Dimitri gave her a small nod, although there was a sceptical look in his eyes. Even if he didn't believe her, he didn't call her out on it. He just stood there a little awkwardly.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she asked him, suddenly realising that it was strange for him to also be here on a Tuesday night, well after midnight.

He looked surprised at her question; like he hadn't been expecting it.

"Oh, I'm just visiting," he told her, looking around the emergency room at nothing in particular.

Rose looked him over carefully. He was still wearing the clothes he had worn out running earlier, which she thought was quite strange. Why visit someone in working-out clothes unless…unless you didn't know that you would be visiting them. And why visit someone in the middle of the night? Rose could feel eyebrows furrow in confusion as she tried to work out what he wasn't telling her…not that it was her business. After all, they hardly knew each other apart from an odd 'hello' or a nod when passing by.

Dimitri looked uncomfortable with her scrutinizing him, and Rose realised that she was probably freaking him out.

"Sorry," she said, looking away from him and noticed a doctor approaching her. "I didn't mean to pry. You can go 'visit' whoever you want, my doctor's here now." The coldness and abruptness in her voice almost surprised her, but she didn't let it show. He could believe whatever he wanted about her…it didn't matter. None of it did.

Dimitri looked taken aback by her shortness and opened his mouth to say something else, but was stopped when the doctor arrived by Rose's side.

"Ms Hathaway?"

"Yes." Rose stood up and made to follow the doctor when a sharp pang of pain went through her foot. She winced and held back a whimper as Dimitri made to grab her arm to steady her.

"I'm sorry," he told her, his face close to hers – so close that she found to concentrate on anything else around them. "Are you sure you're ok?"

After a moment of carefully watching his nothing but concerned eyes, she gave him and nod and the smallest of smiles.

"Okay," he smiled back at her, making her legs feel even weaker than they already were and let the doctor help her over to a consulting room.

Before the doctor closed the door behind her, she chanced a small glance over her shoulder to see if he was still there. She looked at him just in time to see him look away from her and for another girl to approach him. Jumping slightly in surprise, he recovered and slung his arm over this girl's shoulder, both of the walking away quietly.

Rose closed her eyes as the door shut and her vision became a little fuzzy.

"Ms Hathaway, can you tell me what happened?"

"Mmm-hmm," she replied, opening her eyes to see if the room had stopped spinning. "But can I please sit down first?"

He agreed and helped her over to a comfy looking reclining chair. She fed him the same lie she had fed Dimitri when he asked, only she elaborated a bit more to make it slightly more '_fell' _onto a pile of glass in an old run-down part of town, scraping her palms and lower legs. Luckily, he seemed to think this was a perfectly logical excuse and began removing pieces of glass from her skin.

Forty-five minutes and quite a few stitches later, the doctor had her legs wrapped up in protective bandages, and one of her palms needed some special attention. He wrapped it in one of those white, hospital clothes for less-serious injuries and sent her on her way. She gave her father's credit card details to the person at the front desk and left, looking to see if Dimitri or the mystery girl were still in sight.

They weren't though, and Rose disappointedly hailed down a cab to take her home.

Who was the girl? A girlfriend? A friend? The person he was 'visiting'? Rose hadn't gotten a proper look at her face, but she was sure she didn't recognise her from school. With a sigh, she threw some change at the cabbie and let herself into her apartment.

For a moment she thought she had walked into the wrong apartment, but after a moment she recognised the clear signs that it was hers; the beer can from earlier left on the table, the chipping paint on the walls and the slightly-scuffed skirting boards. But the room was so _clean._ Her cleaning spree earlier on almost seemed like a silly dream…what had she been doing? What did it matter if her house was clean or dirty? Who would it affect in the end? It's not like she had anybody to clean the house for.

The silence rang out around the place louder than any amount of noise ever could. There was no one there to welcome her home, or to ask her if she was okay.

Not bothering to even wash her teeth or the miniscule bits of dried blood left on her shins, she climbed into bed and fell asleep, wondering if one day, she ever would have someone to come home to - if there ever would be someone to panic when she hurt herself, or to drive her to the emergency room when needed.

It didn't matter. For now, she was alone.

* * *

Lissa hurried to school the next morning, making sure she had enough time to find Adrian before first period.

"There you are!" she said, sighing in relief when she saw him. "Did you bring it?"

"Here," he pulled a pink shirt out of his bag and she ran into the girl's bathroom to change. She inspected herself in the mirror before leaving the room.

Her hair was nice and neat in its high pony. She smoothed it just in case any pieces were out of line. Adrian's t-shirt was a little too big for her, granted, but it was pink. And that was all that mattered.

"Where's Rose?" she asked Adrian once she had deemed herself good enough for the Plastics. She had walked out into the corridor and suddenly noticed that the second part of their duo was missing.

"She texted me this morning and told me she was 'sick.'" Adrian replied, rolling his eyes. "Yeah right(!) That either means she ditching cos she has a test today, or she was up late last night drinking and watching scary movies."

Lissa giggled at how well Adrian knew Rose. Lissa had only known the girl a couple of days, and yet she knew that Adrian's assumptions were probably the most accurate guesses anyone could have made.

"We'd better go," Adrian said, checking his watch. "If we're late for Alto's class then he won't let us in at all – you'd be surprised the amount of times he kicked Rose out; she barely even bothers showing up anymore."

They hurried to Professor Alto's class and arrived just in the nick of time. He shut the door behind them and shot the two a disapproving look, but said nothing. The class went fast, as did the rest of the day. Lissa had lunch with the Plastics as planned, all the while Adrian sat at his normal table to took notes of what was going on for Rose.

He was at a safe enough distance to hear what they were saying, and be able to laugh out loud without being spotted. And laugh he did.

"…you can't wear a tank top two days in a row, and you can _only_ wear your hair in a ponytail once a week…so I guess you chose today…oh, and we only wear jeans or trackpants on _Fridays. _And if you break any of these rules, you can't sit with us at lunch. I mean, not just you! It goes for any of us…"

The girls went _on and on and on_ about every 'rule' in the girl-world book, and with each sentence, Adrian found it funnier and funnier. He sobered up though when he looked over and noticed Rose's empty seat. He had text her three times today, and she hadn't answered even one. Of course, that could just mean she was really hung-over and fast asleep in her bed, but Adrian made a mental note to pop in and check on her after school to make sure.

He tuned back in to what the girls were currently saying. They were trying to work out the percentage of fat in some candy bar.

"…A hundred and twenty calories and forty-eight calories from fat," Avery read off the back of the packet. "What percentage is that? I'm only eating foods with less than 30 per cent calories from fat."

"Forty eight into one twenty?" Mia guessed, trying to sound sure.

"It's 40 per cent," Lissa informed them, saving them from the pain of trying to work it all out. The three girls looked at her in shock. "Well, forty eight over one twenty equals x over a hundred, then you cross multiply and get the value of x."

Silence hung around them as the three other girls just stared at her…Lissa wondered if she had said something wrong, but then Avery stood up.

"Whatever, I gotta go. I've got a mani-pedi in an hour."

With that, she left with Camille and Mia looking like they wanted to go with her.

Lissa ate her apple and sat there feeling awkward as the two girls looked completely lost.

"So," Mia leaned forward, breaking the tension. "Lissa, have you seen any guys that you think are really cute yet?"

Lissa looked over her shoulder to make sure nobody was around her.

"Well, there is this one guy in my calculus class. His name's Christian Ozera-"

Mia's loud gasp cut Lissa off.

"No! No, you cannot like Christian Ozera!" She whispered loudly, her curls frantically bouncing all over the place. Lissa was actually afraid that she would explode.

"That's Avery's ex-boyfriend," Camille explained to Lissa, as Mia seemed completely incapable.

"Yeah, and she was _devastated _when he broke up with her last year!"

"No, she wasn't," Camille turned to look at Mia. "She'd been sleeping with Aaron Drozdov for months while they were supposed to be together-"

"It doesn't matter!" Mia defended, looking severely upset. "Ex-boyfriends are _strictly_ off-limits. Don't worry, I promise I won't tell Avery what you said," Mia gave Lissa's hand a squeeze and a reassuring smile. Lissa sent one back, not even knowing how to respond to what had just happened.

"Ignore them," Adrian said later on when he and Lissa were walking out from school. "If you like the guy then go for it. He's cute," Adrian added thoughtfully. "But _be careful._ You have to be when messing with the Plastics."

"Won't Avery hate me?" Lissa asked him worriedly.

"Avery hates everyone," Adrian reminded her. "See you tomorrow!" They bid each other goodbye, both lost in their own thoughts.

Lissa was almost at her car when she was intercepted by two guys.

"Oh!" She started and nearly bumped into them.

The taller of the two guys shot her an apologetic look, while the other one spoke.

"Hey," he said. He was the shorter of the two, and had light blonde hair. "You're the Africa girl right?" Lissa nodded warily, afraid there was about to be more talk about 'buttering muffins.'

"I'm Ivan," the guy said. "Captain of the Saint Vladimir's Mathletes. And this is Dimitri." The taller guy gave her a small but warm smile, and then continued to look around the parking lot for something…or some_one._ He was taller than Ivan, and would probably score pretty high on the hotness scale. "We participate in math challenges with other high schools around the state," Ivan continued. "and we can get twice as much funding if we've got a girl…so you should think about joining; Ms Karp's our coach - she said that you'd be awesome at it."

"Yeah, that sounds great," Lissa smiled at them, liking the idea. It sounded like genuine fun, and a good opportunity to make some more friends.

"Great," Ivan said. "Let me give you my card." Lissa noticed Dimitri roll his eyes as Ivan pulled a small piece of cardboard out of his pocket.

Lissa studied the card. It read:

_Ivan Zeklos_

_Maths Enthusiast/Badass_

Along with his number printed at the bottom.

"So, think it over and get back to me," Ivan said. "But make a decision soon though cos we'd like to get jackets." Lissa nodded and said goodbye as the two guys walked away. She stashed the card in her bag and climbed into her car and headed home.


	6. Chapter 6

"Knock, knock," Adrian called through the wooden door of Rose's little apartment. He shifted the Chinese food he'd picked up on the way home from one arm to the other and then knocked again with his free hand. "Rose, open up! It's me."

There was some vague shuffling – as if she was getting up from the couch – and finally, the door opened.

"What took you so long?" Adrian huffed, once again moving the hot food to the previous arm.

"Sorry," she replied. Adrian dropped the food onto the counter and turned to study his best friend.

Rose stood there in sweats and a biggish hoodie - clothes Adrian hadn't seen her in in a long time. She was only wearing a little make-up as well – also strange for her…but her whole posture screamed 'Rose Hathaway,' meaning Adrian wasn't worried about any of these small changes.

He did freeze, however, when he spotted that one of her hands was bandaged up, and the other was quite badly scraped and cut.

"What happened?" he demanded, stalking over to her, the food forgotten.

"Nothing, I just fell."

"You fell?" he repeated sceptically, glancing down at the deep cuts on her visible hand. She immediately pulled the hand up inside the long sleeve of her hoodie, hiding her injuries.

"Yes, I fell." Normally, Adrian would have pushed her for real answers, but there was something about the determined fire in her eyes that stumped in. When he had met her, Rose was nothing more than a broken mess. Over time, she managed to pull herself together enough to get on with her life - she returned to school, even if she did block everyone out. He knew that there were still a lot of things that Rose had never told him, because there was still a certain part of her that didn't trust him, or anybody else for that matter.

The unwavering firm gaze she was sending his way was something he had not seen very often, but even still he _knew. _

He knew that Rose – the _real _Rose, not this fake, clad in all black person – was still in there somewhere…but it would take a lot, or somebody very special to release her back into this world again.

"Okay," he replied, letting it go. He knew by the look that she had given him that she never would have told him the truth even if he had pushed it. Rose relaxed and her gaze flickered to the table behind him.

"Do I smell Chinese?" she glanced back at me hopefully.

"Maybe…"

"Gimme!" She started pulling containers out of the brown paper bag, making the smell waft through the apartment even more now that it was open.

Not bothering to even get a plate, Rose sat down on the couch and began eating the food right out of its container.

"Half of that's for me, you know," Adrian told her, chuckling.

"Get your own," she retorted, her eyes glued to some god-awful reality tv show.

"That is mine!" he exclaimed, sitting down beside her. "Why do you watch those shows?" he asked her in disgust. "They're dreadful."

"I don't know," she replied, not looking away from the screen. "Sure beats my life these days. It's easier to watch theirs rather than think about mine."

Adrian didn't reply. He hated when she said things like that – it was almost as if she didn't even realise that he was there. That _he_ was her friend, and _he_ was there for her no matter what.

"Where's Lissa?" Rose asked him suddenly, finally glancing away from the show.

"I don't know," he replied. "She was talking to those Mathletes guys the last I saw."

"Mathletes guys?" Rose perked up. "Which ones?"

"I'm not sure," he replied, eyeing her suspiciously. "Why?"

"Just wondering," she grumbled looking down. "I mean, those guys don't really talk to anyone, do they? Especially not girls."

Thankfully, Adrian seemed to buy it and agreed. "Yeah, you're right. Although that Ivan guy seems to be fine with talking to girls…and Belikov for that matter."

Rose struggled to keep her facial expression under control when Adrian mentioned Dimitri. She thought back on their very awkward meeting last night, as she had done all night and that morning. _Why _had he been at the hospital in the middle of the night? And why would he be visiting anyone in the ER? Were you even allowed to visit people in the ER? Rose wasn't sure.

He had talked to her though – willingly. He didn't seem bothered about any rumours about her – past or present…just _concerned._

_Why had he been concerned about me? _She thought. _And who the hell was the girl he was with?_

"Earth to Rosie," Adrian's hand waving in front of her face snapped her back to the present where her food was going cold in her lap.

"Don't call me that," she retorted, slapping his hand away.

"You spaced out again," he told her, and looked at her expectantly, as if hoping she would tell him what she was thinking about.

"Sorry," she mumbled and handed him her almost-empty container of food. "Here. I'm full." Adrian looked surprised as she stood up.

"I'm kind of tired so I think I'm going to go to bed," she announced, stifling a yawn. "You can stay for a while if you want – just let yourself out whenever you want. Make sure you shut the door all the way though - I don't want any uninvited guests in the middle of the night."

And with that, Rose retreated to her bedroom, leaving a stunned Adrian in her wake.

He did wait for a little while afterwards. He began to clean up their food and left anything uneaten in separate plates in her fridge – knowing that she would probably get up hungry in the middle of the night. The apartment's cleanliness astonished him even more. The place had never been this clean since…well, since before Rose had moved in. Adrian was _sure _something had happened yesterday…

But what?

* * *

"Hey," Lissa's stomach fluttered with a hundred butterflies as Christian passed her after school the next day. He was dressed in his football gear, so she guessed he was on his way to practice.

"Hey," she replied, trying to discreetly fix her hair, which was probably a little messy after being in eight different classes that day and not having the time to check her reflection.

He kept walking to training and Lissa couldn't help but watch him as he strolled away. He was just so…_perfect_. Why, oh _why_ did he have to be Avery's ex-boyfriend? He was just so damn cute! It was only just dawning on her how much she really liked him – which made it a hundred times harder sitting behind him in calculus.

He turned just before entering the pitch and their eyes locked. He gave her a sweet, but incredibly sexy smile and a little wave. Her hand was halfway raised to wave back when a car honked loudly from behind her. She jumped and turned to see Avery pull up in a car that had to be worth 80 grand or over.

"Get in, bitch," Avery yelled, reapplying lipstick. "We're going shopping." Mia and Camille were also in the car and both began fixing their makeup as Avery did. Lissa turned back around to wave properly to Christian but he was already gone.

With a sigh, she readjusted her bag on her shoulder and hurried to the car, where she hopped in the back with Camille.

The four girls strutted down the main hall of the nearby mall, and Lissa was surprised to see that even people here moved out of their pathway in fear of having to face the wrath of Avery Lazar. Lissa walked along beside them, this strange sense of empowerment overcoming her as people too moved out of her way – some even looked at her in awe.

She had never felt so…so _noticed. _She had always gone through life being the 'quiet' one, or the one who didn't bother to voice her opinion because in the end, what did it matter?

But this feeling was something else – something much more powerful and definitely worth it. And if being Avery's friend meant feeling this power – this control…it wasn't such a bad thing, was it?

"Holy shit!" Mia suddenly dived behind one of the large marble pillars nearby. The three girls stopped walking and looked at her – Camille and Lissa in concern, Avery in annoyance.

"What is it?" she snapped, looking at her friend as though she was being ridiculous.

"That's Jesse Zeklos," she whispered, pointing towards the fountain close to the food court. "Over there…with Natalie Dashkov."

"Natalie Dashkov?" Avery exclaimed in shock and disgust. "The silent virgin who's too scared to even talk to a guy, never mind do anything else with them?! Why would he go out with her when he can have you?"

Mia looked on the verge of bursting into tears. Lissa gave her hand a gentle squeeze to comfort her.

"Let's get out of here," Camille suggested. "Mia doesn't need to see this."

"She doesn't have to." Avery's eyes sparkled menacingly as she too, stayed out of sight behind the pillar. She swiftly pulled her phone from her pocket and put her phone on private, before eventually dialling a number.

"Who are you calling?" Mia exclaimed in fright, glancing around to see if Jesse was still there. Avery pointedly ignored her.

"Excuse me, Mrs Dashkov?" Avery said, her voice turning sugary sweet. "This is Emily from Unplanned Pregnancies. I'm calling in regards of Natalie. I have her tests results here and if you could get her to give me a call when she gets a chance that would be great. It's quite urgent. Thank you!" With that, Avery pressed the 'End call' button and shoved her phone back into her front pocket. "There. Natalie's not going out with _anyone._"

Lissa could only imagine how much Natalie's mother was freaking out right now – so much so that she would forbid her from ever seeing Jesse again. Lissa felt a little sorry for the girl – after all, she hadn't actually done anything wrong…but Natalie wasn't her friend – Lissa didn't even know her! Avery was her friend, as was Mia and Camille…and so she followed them as they waltzed back up through the mall.

* * *

**Richelle said that the first chapter of The Fiery Heart will be put up online on the 29****th**** July. She also said that the Dimitri POV of a scene in Vampire Academy will also be up in July, but she won't tell us exactly when! I'm so excited! xD**


	7. Chapter 7

Rose decided to not go to school for the next couple of days. She relied on Adrian's daily updates on what was happening with Lissa, Avery and her clique of skanks.

It was Saturday and Adrian had been convincing enough to get Rose to leave her apartment. Slowly, they strolled around the perimeter of Adrian's parents' house before collapsing onto the hammock that hung between two trees in his back yard.

Apparently, Avery had taken Lissa shopping yesterday, which had greatly improved Lissa's wardrobe in Adrian's opinion…Rose didn't think so. Although, Rose also thought that Avery's sluttiness was so contagious that anyone who stood within five feet would immediately contract an STD of some sort.

So, a mini skirt or tight fitted, colour coordinated top didn't seem so bad here and there.

"So," Rose kicked her feet up and onto Adrian's lap. "What's the plan for Monday?"

"You tell me – you're the criminal mastermind behind all this, remember?" Rose smirked but stopped when she caught sight of her hand.

Her injuries obtained a couple of days ago were healing nicely. She still had to be careful in case her stitches ripped but she would be getting them removed anyway soon. It was the emotional pain and reminder of her breakdown that hurt her…not to mention the torment of who the mysterious stranger that was with Dimitri Belikov at the hospital.

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened?" Adrian asked her suddenly, pointing at her still bandaged hand.

"I told you; I fell."

"Let me rephrase: Are you ever going to tell me what _really_ happened?" Rose sighed and let her head loll back off the edge of the hammock.

"Adrian, just leave it."

Thankfully, he didn't say another word, and allowed Rose to doze comfortably as the hammock swayed lightly with their combined weight.

"You talked to Lissa today?" she asked Adrian after a little while. She kicked him when he didn't answer.

"Ow," he grumbled sleepily and rubbed his arm. "Yeah, we're going to yours this evening to watch a scary movie."

"Thanks for letting me know," Rose joked sarcastically.

"You're welcome," he replied. "Now get out of here before my parents get home. And clean your apartment before Lissa arrives. I'll handle the junk food."

"Fine," Rose grumbled with displeasure. "But only because you said 'junk food.'"

Sure enough, that evening, Adrian arrived at her doorstep with two brown paper bags full to the brim with all kinds of sugary goodness. Lissa arrived not long after that.

Rose wasn't too interested in their 'fun' evening, but as soon as Lissa mentioned that she had been at Avery's house all afternoon, she was all ears.

"Tell me what happened."

"Well," Lissa started picking at her sleeve nervously. "We went shopping again, and then we went back to her house – which is totally _huge _and expensive-looking-" Rose scoffed.

"-and her room is just _amazing!_ She's got this bed that has got to be big enough for at least four people-"

"I don't want to hear about how '_awesome'_ Avery Lazar is," Rose cut her off. Adrian elbowed her for being rude but she ignored him. "Tell me all of the bitchy things she said."

"Well," Lissa stuttered. She wasn't good with social protocols – she really didn't know what was classified as bitchy or not bitchy. Then she thought of the mean book. "She has this book. It's called the Burn Book."

Rose's eyes widened. "Burn Book? What is it?"

"It's basically where they write something mean about other people at school." Adrian looked aghast.

"What does it say about me?" Rose demanded, suddenly _very_ interested.

"Eh…" Lissa stumbled for only a moment. "You're not in it." That wasn't true of course. Rose _was_ in the Burn Book – in fact, she featured a lot. All of the comments were almost the same, and equally mean; insulting everything from her personality to her looks and everything in between.

Rose looked genuinely upset that Avery didn't hate her enough to put her in the book. Adrian looked relieved that his best friend was spared some hurt and tried to move the conversation on, but Rose wasn't having it.

"Lisa, you have to steal that book!" Rose gushed, looking excited.

"My name's Lissa, actually," Lissa corrected her. Rose didn't seem to be listening too intently.

"Adrian, can you imagine what would happen to Avery if we got our hands on that book? It would ruin her!"

"I'm not going to steal it."

Rose looked shocked. "Why not? Lissa, you have no idea what-"

"No way! I've never stolen anything in my life!"

"It'll be fine! We could publish it and then everyone could see what a cruel, malicious creature she really is!"

"Let it go, Rose." Adrian could see how visibly uncomfortable their new friend looked. Rose looked a little mad at being denied but said no more about the Burn Book. Avery Lazar wasn't mentioned again that evening until it was time for Adrian and Lissa to go home.

"So, when are you going to see Avery again?" Rose asked her, trying to act casual but not quite pulling it off.

"I don't want to spy on her anymore," Lissa told them. "It's too weird!"

"She'll never find out," Rose assured her. "Just thing; you're doing this for the greater good. This way, future generations can be safe from the evil that is Avery Lazar."

* * *

**I know this chapter is **_**very **_**short, but I wanted to upload. Is it just me, or has the VA fanfic fandom been **_**very**_** quiet since the trailer was released? **

**Speaking of which, what did you guys think of it? I've got to admit, I really have my concerns about it (nobody shoot me please!). **

**And again, I'm sorry – but I really don't like the look of Dimitri's hair :/ **

**You guys got opinions or any comments to perhaps make me feel better? Cos I'm a little unnerved. I'd been so looking forward to the movie and now I'm so sure :/**


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